Virtualization and cloud computing can be confusing, especially to business owners who are not familiar with them. But when you understand their differences, you’ll be able to best take advantage of these technologies.

Virtualization
Imagine a company with five servers, each assigned a single task such as storage, email, etc.

Routers, switches, modems, gateways, firewalls, servers, and storage devices — these are just some of the many machines you need to build a network infrastructure that enables effective internal and external communications. Even when pared down to serve fewer users, the costs of building a similar infrastructure were prohibitive for SMBs, at least until hyperconvergence came along.

Cloud computing has become an indispensable component in business IT because it’s cost-effective, flexible, and secure. Thanks to hybrid cloud solutions, organizations have access to even more agile computing resources.

Hybrid clouds are a combination of private and public clouds.

Virtualization and cloud computing are sometimes used interchangeably, and it's easy to see why people confuse the two. To set the record straight, virtualization is NOT cloud computing. But these two revolutionary technologies often overlap.
Virtualization
Imagine a company with five servers, each assigned a single task such as storage, email, etc.